Homemade

For the past couple of months we've been using more "homemade" things. So here you are, the instructions on how to make your own laundry soap, dishwasher detergent and surface cleaner. They all work great and i highly recommend them. My hippy,money saving self LOVES doing things like this! If you have any money saving hippy ways to share with me please feel free!

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT-
Here's a recipe for homemade powdered laundry detergent. Unlike the homemade liquid laundry detergent recipe, this one requires the use of Fels Naptha laundry soap. Fels Naptha laundry soap, which is manufactured by Dial Corporation, is not always available in local grocery stores and you may have to order it online from the likes of Amazon or online retailers. .

If you have to order Fels Naptha laundry soap, the shipping charges will increase the bottom line cost per load of wash. However, if you are going to continually make homemade laundry detergent, ordering more than one bar at a time will help to defray some of the shipping charges.

No matter what the shipping charges are it is still more cost effective to make your own homemade laundry detergent than to purchase it from the store. Additionally, if living green is high on your list of priorities, you will feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that you are using environmentally friendly ingredients. As with its liquid counterpart, this homemade powdered laundry detergent is very low sudsing and works well in high efficiency washing machines.

Ingredients:
•2/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (equivalent of 1 cup grated)
•½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax
•½ Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.
•Container large enough to hold 2 cups of laundry detergent
Directions:
1.Grate the Fels Naptha laundry soap with a grater or use a food processor. Approximately 2/3 of a bar of soap will make 1 cup of grated soap.
2.Add the ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup of washing soda to the grated soap.
3.Shake and/or mix well
Use:
One tablespoon of detergent is sufficient per load of wash. If you have a high-efficiency machine, you might want to experiment with using a little less detergent for normal loads. If your clothes come out feeling stiff, lower the amount of detergent. For clothes that are heavily soiled, add a teaspoon more of the detergent..

Yield:
The recipe yields 2 cups of laundry detergent. If you use 1 tablespoon per load, you will be able to wash 32 loads of clothes



Read more at Suite101: Homemade Laundry Detergent: Powdered or Liquid Which Do You Prefer? http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/homemade_laundry_detergent#ixzz0ifV2liUN

HOMEMADE DISHWASHER DETERGENT-
5 SIMPLE INGREDIENTS
1 – 55 ounce box of Arm & Hammer® Super Washing Soda = $3.99 Many people seem to be finding this cheaper than me, I suppose I’ll have to shop around.
1 – 76 ounce box of 20 Mule Team® Borax = $4.99 People seem to be finding this much cheaper than me too.
1 – 48 ounce box of coarse Kosher Salt = $1.99 I cook with kosher salt as well.
1 – 2 ounce container of food-grade Citric Acid = $1.15 You can find this online or at your local brewery or specialty beer store. If you cannot find this you can substitute 10-15 lemon Kool-aid envelopes per batch **the small unsweetened ones**, if you use any other flavor you could easily color the inside of your dishwasher (you need 10-15 envelopes to equal the 1-2oz of straight citric acid.) If you do not use some form of citric acid… you will most likely have the cloudy residue left that most “green” cleaners leave.

1 – gallon of White Vinegar = $1.79 Yet another excellent use for a nearly universal cleaning agent.
COST BREAKDOWN & SAVINGS

Prior to making our own, we were using Palmolive eco+ liquid detergent. Here is the breakdown in cost analysis:

borax | 76oz = 4.99 | 8oz=.53/batch
washing soda | 55oz = 3.99 | 8oz=.57/batch
citric acid | 2oz = 1.15/batch
kosher salt | 48oz = 1.99 | 2oz= .08/batch
total for 32 oz = $2.33/batch
white vinegar (as rinse agent) | 1gal = 1.79 | 4oz=.06/fill
(**note** you only need to use 1 rounded tablespoon of this homemade detergent per load. If you feel it necessary… you may use a heaping tablespoon, but I do not.)

Palmolive® eco+ gel 75 ounce detergent – $3.79 – 28 loads = $0.14 per load
Jabs Homemade powder 32 ounce detergent – $2.33 – 50 loads = $0.05 per load
Here are the cost savings for my homemade rinse agent that goes along with this recipe:

FINISH® JET-DRY® Rinse Agent 4.22 ounce solution – $3.99 – 1 fill = $3.99 per fill
White Vinegar as a Rinse Agent 1 gallon solution – $1.79 – 1 fill = $0.06 per fill
That is a savings of 6650% on an effective rinse agent! Sounds too good to be true… but it is indeed true!

Not only am I getting my rinse agent for just pennies & cutting my costs by more than half, (I do not count time spent as cost because it is fun, educational, & useful for both you & me) there are also many other benefits of homemade products which I chronicle in an article on FiveCentNickel.com.

A SIMPLE RECIPE & MAKING OF A BATCH
Each batch yields 32 ounces of resulting product which you should store in some type of container you were going to dispose of. I suggest something 1 gallon size or smaller so you can fit it under your kitchen sink; old coffee cans work great.

1. Start with these 5 ingredients:

2. Into a 32 ounce container – add 1/2 cup of borax:

3. Add 1/2 cup of washing soda:

4. Add 1/4 cup of citric acid:

5. Add 1/4 cup of kosher salt:

6. Put the lid on & shake it up good:

7. As you know… my wife loves her some label maker:

8. Fill “Rinse Aid” compartment with white vinegar:

When you do a load use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load (you can use a heaping tablespoon if you feel the need, but I do not).

This detergent will clump together but it doesn’t matter… just scoop out your tablespoon & forget about the clumps! It clumps because of the citric acid.

There you have it folks!

Simple, easy, fast, & efficient homemade laundry detergent.


Homemade surface cleaner-
10-15 drops tea tree oil
2 teaspoons borax
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar
add into spray bottle, shake it up and walla... you have all purpose surface cleaner...



Next on the list... no longer using shampoo and conditioner